* Actually not just Awesome People Reading, but also Awesome First Dog Listening.** Thanks so much to KW for bringing this genius item to our attention.*** Cue W.G. Snuffy Walden theme music.**** And also President Obama, reading Where the Wild Things Are. Who else loves to read, Mr President? We do! We do!

4) Autumn in Melbourne is so beautiful: clear, still, sunny days; crisp
nights; the start of the footy season. But autumn's always a bit melancholy
too. And today it's raining. The Go-Betweens might have been writing about
Brisbane, but this song resonates with the autumnal Melbourne soul.

Deeply. Ass-kicking. So proud. We should definitely put that in our side
bar, just like a book blurb.

"Deeply ass-kicking" Jesse Andrews

It will sit nicely alongside:

"Annoyingly obsessive" Friends and Family

and

"Almighty $%&wits" Rejected Author

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is one of those rare books that
makes you cry and snort food out your nose with laughter* at basically the same
time. With all the snot and tears and partially masticated food, reading Me
and Earl is truly a disgusting experience. A disgusting, uplifting,
remarkable experience.

Greg and Earl and Rachel - you will take them to your heart. Even though at
times it will be awkward, and maybe gross, and certainly piss-funny, it will be
worth it to be part of The Worst Film Ever Made.

Even if he hadn't sweet-talked us** and let us publish his terrific book,
we'd probably still like Jesse Andrews because he thinks about YA fiction in a
way that rings true around here. Here he is over at his US publishers, Abrams
books, talking about how Young-adult fiction changed his life.

'... this is what I learned, in the process of writing Me and
Earl: writing for teens is the perfect antidote to what may seem like a
terminal case of pretentiousness. Teens do not suffer pretense.
They do not read books that aren't readable. If you are a writer, it is
colossally helpful to write with them in mind as an audience, because if the
book isn't fun, or engaging, or interesting, they're not going to read
it.'

Amen.

As if all this kindred spirit, synergy business wasn't enough, reading
Jesse's post led us to discover another connection with Abrams. Are you ready
for this? Because we were quite blown away. Well... you know how we made a cake in a cup?

Okay, so theirs turned out better than ours did, but that just means we
have stuff to learn and share.***

And then there is the little matter of the cover.

Usually when we publish a book that was first published in another market we
put a new cover on it. A cover that, you know, reflects the needs of our
Australian market... and stuff. But the artwork and design for this cover is
just so perfect we let it stand.****

How could we not...

So thank you, Jesse. You made our day. We like your book heaps, and
we are extremely proud to be publishing it in the antipodes. Come and visit
soon.

* Don't eat and read, people. You have been warned.

** "Deeply ass-kicking" Jesse Andrews

*** Sharing cake is very important.You cannot be a friend of Alien Onion
if you don't share cake. And learning is very important. For instance, we have
learned that should we ever attempt cake-in-a-mug again, we (1) WILL NOT USE
olive oil decanted from a separated vinaigrette and (2) WILL USE our Pantone
coffee mugs - clearly the mug of choice for publishing houses across all the
lands.